My older brother is Gao Huan.

Chapter 550 The Divine Artifact of the Great Song Dynasty

"Prime Minister, please forgive me..."

The many craftsmen, filled with fear and trepidation, immediately knelt on the ground and begged for mercy.

Jia Sixie also quickly bowed, "Prime Minister, please forgive me..."

Gao Yu came to 'inspect' the key project with great joy, but they made a huge blunder in front of him.

If someone were to be blamed for this, losing their head wouldn't be an exaggeration.

What's the difference between deceiving Gao Yu and deceiving the Emperor?
Gao Yu waved his hand, "Get up, everyone."

He stepped forward and, looking at the scattered wreckage, formed a general idea in his mind.

If Jia Sixie, Qi Wuhuaiwen, and the others didn't dare to deceive him, then there's only one possibility...

They had previously successfully launched stones using a smaller version of the trebuchet, but in order to demonstrate the effect better, they forcibly made the overall frame larger without testing, attempting to launch even larger stones.

The result was that the materials couldn't keep up, which led to this accident.

"People safe is good."

Gao Yu looked at Jia Sixie and said, "Zhixing, tell me the truth, were the previous Huihui cannons not this big?"

Before Jia Sixie could speak, Qi Wuhuaiwen stepped forward and said, "Prime Minister, this has nothing to do with Minister Jia. It was... it was my own willful act."

"No, it's the Prime Minister...it's me."

Gao Yu chuckled lightly, "You two don't need to be nervous. I just want to tell you that the Ministry of Works should be 'realistic'. Whatever it is, that's what it is. You have clearly made a smaller version of the trebuchet. It may not be very useful in actual combat for the time being, but you have already overcome the technical difficulties."

"We can test the strength of each material gradually from now on; why rush things?"

"I have said before that the Ministry of Works does not make progress day by day. It is possible that you will not be able to achieve results in a certain technology for several years, or you may be able to overcome it in an instant with a flash of inspiration."

Indeed, science and technology often rely on flashes of genius.

Although Gao Yu could be magnanimous enough not to pursue the matter, such behavior should absolutely not be tolerated.

After saying all the nice things, he secretly gave Liu Yi a wink.

Liu Yi and his group were pure martial artists, not as clever as Liu Taozhi, but after so many years of getting along, how could they not understand Gao Yu's thoughts?
I understood immediately.

Liu Yi stepped forward and said, “Prime Minister! How can we let them off so easily this time? If we don’t punish them severely, wouldn’t that be encouraging and promoting this kind of behavior? If this happened in the army, it would be considered false reporting of military intelligence, and even beheading wouldn’t be too much!”

"Indeed, Prime Minister! This matter must not be let off lightly. To put it bluntly, this is an attempt to deceive the Prime Minister for personal gain!"

It doesn't matter if they play the bad cop.

As Gao Yu's personal guards, they had no need to be afraid of offending anyone.

Not to mention that this was at Gao Yu's behest.

Gao Yu looked troubled and then glanced at Jia Sixie and Qi Wuhuaiwen.

Jia Sixie was, after all, an official. The fact that he didn't delve into or manage the officialdom doesn't mean he didn't understand the ways of being an official.

He quickly said, "The two generals are right, Prime Minister. We must not be let off lightly this time. We need to be severely punished as a warning to others."

Gao Yu then spoke, "Then so be it. Considering your good intentions, you may be spared the death penalty, but you cannot escape punishment. Each of you will be fined one year's salary. If anyone dares to do such a thing again in the future, we will not let you off lightly!"

"Thank you, Prime Minister!"

Lift high and put down gently.

They don't rely on salaries for food, or rather, they wouldn't starve to death even without salaries.

Liu Yi, quite perceptive, spoke up instead, saying, "Prime Minister, if it's like this..."

"All right."

Gao Yu frowned and glared at him. "The work in the Ministry of Works is all hard work. I can understand your eagerness to make a name for yourself. Let's leave it at that."

The craftsmen were finally relieved and were extremely grateful to Gao Yu, shouting in unison, "Thank you, Prime Minister!" Gao Yu's methods of winning people's hearts were becoming more and more skillful.

Without him.

Only if you are familiar with it.

No wonder he felt he was acting more and more like an 'emperor'.

This was one of the signature methods used by emperors to govern their subjects.

"You all don't need to rush. Take it one step at a time. When we finally make the Huihui cannon, it will be a great achievement!"

Gao Yu wasn't particularly angry.

In fact, even a small trebuchet can be used to a near-perfect degree.

Although it couldn't directly breach the city walls of Xiangyang like the Mongol army in history, it still had a greater launching force than ordinary catapults.

It could be used for other purposes as well, such as tying a large number of letters of surrender to small stones and throwing them directly into the city to cause panic and greatly demoralize the soldiers and civilians in the city.

Subsequently.

Jia Sixie then led Gao Yu to the other side.

"Prime Minister, this Eight-Ox Crossbow was developed according to your instructions."

"Oh?"

Gao Yu became interested. "Take me to see it."

The eight-ox crossbow was one of the most powerful weapons used by the Song army. During the Battle of Chanyuan, the Song army used a crossbow to kill the Liao army commander Xiao Talin with an arrow from hundreds of meters away, which led to a ceasefire and the signing of the Treaty of Chanyuan.

The Eight-Ox Crossbow was not only used as a defensive weapon.

It also proved surprisingly effective during sieges.

It's unrealistic to expect to hit the defenders on the city wall directly with a low shot, but it's possible to shoot directly at the city wall.

The crossbow bolts used in ballistae were enormous and had tremendous force when fired, allowing them to embed themselves into the city walls. This effectively provided siege soldiers with an additional way to get onto the city walls.

The soldiers could easily use the crossbow bolts nailed to the city wall to climb up.

Having an additional way to scale the city walls reduced the difficulty of the siege and increased the pressure on the defenders inside the city.

If one were extremely lucky and managed to kill a defender on the city wall with an arrow, it would surely cause a great upheaval in the defenders' morale, leading to a decline in their fighting spirit.

Gao Yu was taken to another place.

Similarly, there is a wooden bed at the bottom for support, and three huge crossbows at the top. It is equivalent to three huge crossbows firing arrows at the same time, and the power of the arrows can be imagined.

Just loading the crossbow bolts requires ten craftsmen working together.

The target was still a thick earthen wall.

As the crossbow bolt was fired!

The noise it makes just the moment it's shot out proves its extraordinary power!

Almost instantly, the crossbow bolt easily hit the earthen wall a hundred paces away. Gao Yu personally led his men to the earthen wall, and the tip of the crossbow bolt was completely embedded in the wall.

"Liu Yi, climb up and take a look."

Liu Yi immediately climbed onto the crossbow bolt and even jumped a couple of times. Although the bolt shaft was bent, it could still support his weight.

Seeing this, Gao Yu instructed, "Alright, you all should research the materials for the crossbow shafts so that they can withstand greater weight. This will be of great use in future sieges!"

In fact, Gao Yu doesn't need to explain much.

The fact that Gao Yu made Liu Yi climb up, and then demanded that the crossbow shafts be made harder, reveals what Gao Yu was really thinking.

(End of this chapter)